Welcome to 'Today' - an hour of world news and analysis -- from a different perspective. I'm Jingnan.

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Welcome to 'Today' - a news programme from a different perspective. I'm Jingnan.It has been about two weeks since countries including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt cut diplomatic ties with Qatar over the latter's alleged role in supporting extremism.Qatar has strongly denied these accusations.The sanctions against Qatar have led to the country's isolation, with its access to sea, land and air routes blocked by its neighbors.In a bid to ease tensions, Kuwait has expressed willingness to act as a mediator.Turkey and Iran have offered support, defending Qatar and providing much needed food supplies to the agriculturally dependent country.The US has also urged for unification of the Persian Gulf nations.

For more on this, CRI' Jingnan is now joined on the line by Sharmine Narwani,Beirut-based journalist and analyst of Mideast geopoliticsStephen Zunes, Professor of Politics and Coordinator of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of San Francisco；in the studio we have Wang Tingyi,Phd Candidate of International relations, at Tsinghua University, also former Visiting scholar to Saudi Arabia, UAE, and UK

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